Northern Irish baker Irwin’s has been awarded funding from the Irish Central Border Area Network (ICBAN) to develop its range of “smart breads”.

Irwin’s intends to use the new £28,000 grant to develop breads aimed at tackling a

range of health issues in Northern Ireland.

MD Brian Irwin said the baker has already achieved a number of UK and Ireland industry firsts with functional breads – including folic acid fortified breads, added-calcium children’s products, reduced salt breads and, most recently, a low-Glycaemic Index white loaf, with a GI ranking of 39.

“With the help of the ICBAN award, we are now aiming to take our capabilities in this area even further – by creating more breads capable of addressing other specific health concerns prevalent here, such as heart disease, in a much more targeted and impactful way,” said Mr Irwin.

The ICBAN bursary was made possible through Euro-pean Union funding.

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